Forgotten Farms

In affluent communities, farm-to-table restaurants, farmer's markets and CSAs are booming, and the new farmers are celebrated. Meanwhile the numbers of New England dairy farms and dramatically decreasing. Forgotten Farms is a locally produced documentary that explores the cultural divide between the new food movement and traditional New England dairy farms. The film highlights the need to examine differences, develop mutual understanding, and find common ground. A truly sustainable local food system will benefit everyone.

A Small Good Thing

A Small Good Thing examines how our ideal of the American Dream has come to the end of its promise. The film tells the stories of people moving away from a philosophy of “more is better” toward a more holistic conception of happiness—one based on a close connection to their bodies and health, to the natural world, and to the greater good.

This documentary is set in western Massachusetts in the Berkshires, long a destination for change-seekers, spiritual explorers, artists, and musicians seeking solace and stimulation amid the pastoral landscape—the perfect setting for a story about renewing personal and universal bonds.

Director: Pamela Tanner Boll

Runtime: 1 hour 11 minutes

Genre: Documentary

“If you’re disillusioned by the American Dream and fascinated by people who’ve found their own unique path to happiness, I highly recommend you check it out.”

Peter and the Farm

Peter Dunning is the proud proprietor of Mile Hill Farm, which sits on 187 idyllic acres in Vermont. Over the years, the land's 38 harvests have seen the arrivals and departures of three wives and four children, leaving Peter with only animals and memories. The arrival of a film crew causes him to confront his history and his legacy, passing along hard-won agricultural wisdom even as he doubts the meaning of the work he is fated to perform until death.

Director: Tony Stone

Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes

Genre: Documentary

“It is the film’s cosmic dimension that makes it so special. To borrow the title of a Tom Wolfe novel, Mr. Dunning is “a man in full,” by turns majestic and cantankerous, and unafraid to look into the void and to ask the deepest, most personal questions about the purpose of life. As the camera surveys the glorious landscape of rural Vermont with the same dispassion that it focuses on a cow defecating, the film evokes the natural world with a grand poetic awareness of the primal connectedness of things. From the rapturous to the gross, you can’t have one without the other.”

Seed: The Untold Story

Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds—worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. This documentary follows passionate seed keepers who are protecting a 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94 seed varieties have disappeared. A cadre of 10 agrichemical companies control over two-thirds of the global seed market, reaping unprecedented profits. Farmers and others battle to defend the future of our food in this acclaimed film that has been called “the most essential, illuminating and enraging film since Food, Inc.”

Director: Taggart Siegel, Jon Betz

Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes

Genre: Documentary

Fresh Fest is supported in part by a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; and a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council Festivals Program; as well as sponsorship from the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies, the Williams College Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, and Storey Publishing.

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About

Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, Images Cinema is
a nonprofit, independent movie theater presenting a wide array
of films to the Berkshires year-round. We are driven by our
love of cinema and dedicated to the exploration of film as an
art form and a source of entertainment.